Tomorrow, the Jazz head for another preseason road trip to take on Denver, Chicago and, uh... Chicago again. The most notable of these games is Deron Williams returning to Champaigne, IL to play at his college stomping grounds against the Bulls. By this time, hopefully the games will have picked up and the Jazz will be playing near full-speed and near full-rotation (actually, that's more of a pipe dream due to the preseason really being a snoozer this year).

A few stories have popped up here and there, so let's get to them!

AK off the bench

Jerry Sloan has started experimenting with a new lineup change that Jazz fans have pondered for quite a while, and that is Andrei being the first man off the bench and all but leading the second unit.

I'm actually a little surprised that Sloan has waited this long to consider this idea, because the Jazz have a lot of younger wing players that probably don't get the floor time that they should. At least giving them a chance and then sending AK in for relief makes sense to see what they can do with the best supporting cast of players rather than a scrappy bench unit.

Turn the clock back to a couple of offseasons ago, where AK was wanting out of the Jazz's system, in more or less words, to be "the man" of whatever team/squad he plays with. Him being the best player on the second unit gives him a chance to fully implement his breakneck style of play and allows him to utilize his passing, ball-handling and inside scoring more often, also while playing against somewhat inferior competition for a majority of his minutes. In a sense, it satisfies what he was asking for a couple of summers ago, and according to news articles, AK supports the idea. It has proven effective in the few games they've experimented with it, most notably AK putting up a big performance against Portland. Not to say that one game is worthy to say it's a good idea, but at least we know that AK is responding well and dramatically changing the pace of the game when he enters. FYI, AK was in the high teens in floor-time +/-, and from all news sources, was the difference-maker for the Jazz in that win.

This will also give a fair chance to CJ Miles to prove that he's worthy to get consistent minutes with the team, seeing as how he has been elected the starter for the time being. CJ has definitely put up some poor performances thus far in a starting role, but in years prior he played very well in a starting role during the regular season, and I believe he will shape up. If not, look for a starting lineup of Korver/Brewer at the 2/3, respectively. Brewer and AK on the same squad (considering they score in similar manners) has seemed a little redundant, so over a large span of games we might see how effective this lineup can be.

The odd man out in this situation is Harpring, and he will definitely be the odd man out as long as the infection in his ankle continues to bother him. The long-term solution is obviously for Harpring's minutes to slowly be consumed by younger players as they are ready, but maybe that time is now. I personally believed that last season CJ showed more consistency when offered minutes than Harpring did, and according to a lot of NBA stat websites, Harpring was one of the team's most detrimental players. I believe the answer here is to use Harpring in spot minutes, mainly if the younger guys are having problems. We'll see how this plays out, but Jazz fans may fear Sloan's tendency to give players minutes that fall into the underdog or workhorse category - categories that Harpring has made his name in.


Price at the 2? Please, no!

Sloan, over the years, has had a tendency to play a PG (or a small guard) at the SG position and seems to have enjoyed doing so this preseason. Price has played along Knight off the bench on a few occassions, and honestly it hasn't been too bad. But, don't get this perception wrong - this is still PRESEASON. This is the time where it's okay to lose and okay to make dumb mistakes and tinker with lineups at your own expense.

This is one idea that is a BAD idea. The 2 guards in today's game are the perfect athlete mixture of size and speed, and Price has speed, but a taller guard would shoot over him all day.

Besides that, the Jazz have a big logjam at the PG, SG and SF positions. Throwing a PG (or a small guard) into the wrong spot only further complicates that issue. It's OKAY to have a combo guard (as Price is labeled) playing PG simply because he doesn't have the size to defensively compete against other shooting guards.

Let Knight and Price battle it out for the backup minutes. Split them, if you really want to. But please, unless it's to match another small lineup, do not run Price and Knight in the same unit because it detracts from other guards that are more deserving and defensively puts Price at a huge disadvantage. Just say NO!



Fesenko.. what the..?

I really don't understand this kid. One game he's great, the next he's a fouling machine. The Jazz are desperately looking for a big defensive presence off the bench and that's the reason the Jazz drafted him and want him to pan out. So, what is it? Is it him being too immature to bring a consistent effort? Is it him not understanding what he's supposed to do? Is it him just being a doofus and shining only when he gets lucky?

I personally believe that he has all of the physical tools to be a great player, but he's constantly making really bad mistakes, doesn't train hard and doesn't act like he wants to be in the NBA for more than a couple of wasteful seasons. The kid is fast, has great shot-blocking abilities, a pretty good post game and is a good/great rebounder (as he really took it to Oden the other night). But, he fouls a LOT, constantly is blowing defensive assignments, constantly looks lost on the offensive end... it's difficult to say.

I still think until he actually cracks a few regular season games (much less makes the game-to-game dressing roster) he's a waste of time and won't ever give the Jazz anything useful. Don't put too much hope into this kid until he shows an interest in being an NBA player.


By Request - Kosta Koufos

It's hard to say what will become of this kid just yet. He's extremely talented and I believe he will wind up being a solid draft pick. His athleticism that was displayed at the open scrimmage a few weeks ago was definitely unexpected and very impressive for a legit 7-footer. He is also built physically as an NBA center but I think will take some time to pick up the Jazz's system.

More importantly, the Jazz appear to be looking for a defensive presence down low and considering his defensive success in college, his stature and athleticism, I think the Jazz may have found the player that will get minutes in the long term and be able to contribute on both the offensive and defensive end.

He's been hindered a bit by a hamstring issue so he hasn't had a ton of floor time so I haven't seen very much of him at all other than the scrimmage and very few preseason clips. Word has it that he's not ready for the Jazz's fairly complex system yet and this is usually an issue with younger players trying to fit in. I'd venture to bet that he won't be seeing many minutes this season, but he could and probably will have an emergence year like Brewer did last season, proving himself to be a good and reliable draft pick.

In a long-term scope, he's the player that is expected to take Memo's minutes once Memo winds down and Koufos starts picking it up, considering Koufos appears to be a Euro-style center with the bonus of defensive prowess and an impressive physique.



The next edition of this blog will be a full-on season preview for the Jazz with as much useful (or useless) information as possible relevant to the upcoming season. As usual, comments or requests for future editions are welcome.